Terra_Niux said:
The exam was stupid in some spots, I really find it difficult to comprehende the relevance of a chemistry exam to assess a person's chemistry skills, especially seeing as chemistry is a really more of a practical subject. An exam fails to emulate any real situation based in a career of chemistry.
Saying that, I think ill either get a band 4 or 5, i'm more of a practical student.
I agree with you. I did chemistry and did alright in the HSC, and once I got to uni, the level required to do well in chemistry at uni is very high. Only about say 5 to 10% of the HSC chem is relevant in university. Uni mainly emphasise on practical stuffs, equations, about 80% of the course is reinforced by calculations, reflecting the practical nature of chemistry. HSC chem test you on how well you construct your written answers with key words and verbs, like assess this, evluate that. In uni, the exam ask you something like: Give equations; calculate the solubility.
Or questions that require answers in words are: give explanations for...; Under what conditions is delta G equal to zero; About 90% of the exam paper is equations. And many people have found difficult in obtaining high marks in chem at uni, even though they have done chem at high school.
Same with physics.
HSC Biology on the other hand, helped a lot in university. With all the basic principle covered, but of course, uni is more indepth.
